Enhanced flight vision system for aircraft

Abstract

The enhanced flight vision system of an aircraft comprises an image acquisition system provided to acquire images of an outside environment of the aircraft, and a display system configured to allow information to be displayed on a display unit overlayed with the outside environment of the aircraft. The display system is configured to receive images produced by the image acquisition system and to display these images on the display unit. The image acquisition system is configured to associate ancillary information with at least a part of the images produced and the display system is configured to check the integrity of an image received from the image acquisition system, based on the ancillary information associated with that image; and in the absence of integrity, deactivate the display on the display unit of at least the image received from the image acquisition system.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An enhanced flight vision system comprising:
 a display system for a cockpit of an aircraft configured to allow information to be displayed on a display unit in such a way that this information is visible to a pilot of the aircraft overlayed with an outside environment of the aircraft; and 
 an image acquisition system, comprising at least one image sensor and provided to acquire images of the outside environment of the aircraft, 
 wherein the display system is configured to receive images produced by the image acquisition system and to display these images on the display unit, 
 wherein the image acquisition system is configured to associate ancillary information with at least a part of the images produced, and 
 wherein the display system is configured to:
 check an integrity of an image received from the image acquisition system, based on ancillary information associated with that image, wherein the integrity of the image corresponds to the intrinsic quality of the image, and a non-integrity of the image corresponds to a failure of the image acquisition system, not to environmental conditions; and 
 in an absence of the integrity, deactivate the display on the display unit of at least said image received from the image acquisition system. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The enhanced flight vision system according to  claim 1 , wherein the display unit is a head-up display or a display unit configured to be worn attached to a user's head. 
     
     
       3. The enhanced flight vision system according to  claim 1 , wherein the ancillary information corresponds to a time stamp of the image. 
     
     
       4. The enhanced flight vision system according to  claim 3 , wherein the display system is configured to transmit a clock to the image acquisition system and the image acquisition system is configured to time stamp the images based on said clock. 
     
     
       5. The enhanced flight vision system according to  claim 4 , wherein:
 the display system is configured to calculate a control code corresponding to the clock and to transmit the clock, with this associated control code, to the image acquisition system; 
 the image acquisition system is configured to time stamp the images based on said clock and the associated control code; and 
 the display system is configured to check whether the control code associated with an image received from the image acquisition system is correct and, if the control code associated with this image is not correct, to reject this image and determine an absence of integrity of the image. 
 
     
     
       6. An enhanced flight vision system comprising:
 a display system for a cockpit of an aircraft configured to allow information to be displayed on a display unit in such a way that this information is visible to a pilot of the aircraft overlayed with an outside environment of the aircraft; and 
 an image acquisition system, comprising at least one image sensor and provided to acquire images of the outside environment of the aircraft, 
 wherein the display system is configured to receive images produced by the image acquisition system and to display these images on the display unit, 
 wherein the image acquisition system is configured to associate ancillary information with at least a part of the images produced, and 
 wherein the display system is configured to:
 check an integrity of an image received from the image acquisition system, based on ancillary information associated with that image; and 
 in an absence of the integrity, deactivate the display on the display unit of at least said image received from the image acquisition system, 
 
 wherein the ancillary information corresponds to a time stamp of the image, 
 wherein the display system is configured such that, when the display system receives an image from the image acquisition system, the display system calculates a difference between a current clock value and the clock value corresponding to the time stamp of the image and, the display system determines either an integrity of the image if this difference is less than a predetermined time, or an absence of the integrity of the image if this time difference is greater than or equal to said predetermined time. 
 
     
     
       7. An enhanced flight vision system comprising:
 a display system for a cockpit of an aircraft configured to allow information to be displayed on a display unit in such a way that this information is visible to a pilot of the aircraft overlayed with an outside environment of the aircraft; and 
 an image acquisition system, comprising at least one image sensor and provided to acquire images of the outside environment of the aircraft, 
 wherein the display system is configured to receive images produced by the image acquisition system and to display these images on the display unit, 
 wherein the image acquisition system is configured to associate ancillary information with at least a part of the images produced, and 
 wherein the display system is configured to:
 check an integrity of an image received from the image acquisition system, based on ancillary information associated with that image; and 
 in an absence of the integrity, deactivate the display on the display unit of at least said image received from the image acquisition system, 
 
 wherein the ancillary information corresponds to a predefined pattern and the display system is configured to: 
 when the display system receives an image from the image acquisition system, search for the predefined pattern in the received image and determine a position of the predefined pattern in the received image; 
 determine a deviation between the position of the predefined pattern in the received image and a reference position; 
 determine either an integrity of the received image if this deviation is less than a predetermined value, or an absence of integrity of the received image if this deviation is greater than or equal to said predetermined value. 
 
     
     
       8. The enhanced flight vision system according to  claim 7 , wherein the image acquisition system comprises a mark interposed between the image sensor and the environment, this mark corresponding to the predefined pattern. 
     
     
       9. The enhanced flight vision system according to  claim 7 , wherein the image sensor of the image acquisition system comprises a mark corresponding to the predefined pattern. 
     
     
       10. An aircraft comprising an enhanced flight vision system according to  claim 1 .